A Carrier of Bodies

October 10, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … I don’t know that anyone shouted, “Corpsman up!” / Like in the movies; I was already up

Faithful Friday: Battle of Lepanto

October 6, 2023.Reading time 2 minutes.

The Battle of Lepanto was, in many ways, the pivotal moment of this ongoing strife. There was much at stake, particularly as the number of Christian hostages had accumulated astronomically over the years.

Send Them Your Dawn, O Lord

April 11, 2023.Reading time 1 minute.

By Lawrence “Mack in Texas” Hall … We repudiate Putin and all his works / And all his pomps and all his engines of death / And all his malignant servile orcs / Who crucify humanity with lies

Poetry in the Desert

September 1, 2022.Reading time 5 minutes.

A story told about Field Marshal Wavell is that while throwing some things into a bag for a field tour of soldiers defending India from invasion by the Japanese, he asked if anyone had seen his Browning. When someone pointed out that he was wearing it – his Browning 9mm – he said that he was looking for his copy of the poems of Robert Browning. In all his campaigns, Wavell always carried poetry with him.

A Time Capsule for our Noblest Soldier

January 11, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

If there must be time capsules buried beneath /
Statues of bold men wearing uniforms /
As a remembrance of man’s noblest ideals /
Let us have one for dear ol’ Sergeant Schultz

Order Of Knights. Resigned.

October 14, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

A man draped in iron-bound ringlets. / His forearm is clenched, bearing his few pounds of metal, beaten and refined into a blade. He calls it beautiful, his friend, his right hand. /
Booted in stout cobbled leather, his feet remain settled in the grains of sand, waiting for the hourglass of happenings to converge on him.

Living for Old Stoney

April 11, 2020.Reading time 21 minutes.

Jest as soon as we got our kits settled, an orderly ordered us to a drill area where we proudly showed off our new fightin’ skills to General Abner Stone, the base commander. He looked grim at our display, but we quickly decided that he always looked this way.